Kinetic-energy projectiles are known and described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,343,305. The intermediate body of such projectiles are in the form of an envelope which surrounds and encloses a large quantity of sub-projectiles. Alternately these sub-projectiles may be embedded in a sintered metal powder material or in a binder. Upon impacting on an armored target the piercing head impacts on the first plate of the target by piercing it or indenting it.
If the target is in the form of a single armor plate then the sub-projectiles scatter behind the target plate in the shape of a cone and thereby have a destructive effect over as large as possible a space of the target area. For a better distribution of the sub-projectiles, those surfaces of the main penetrator which confront the piercing head, are conically shaped. Moreover, in the central region of the envelope forming the intermediate body or so-called "spacing means" there can be disposed an explosive charge for increasing the scatter energy of the sub-projectiles. When this state of the art projectile is to be used against a multi-plated armored target then the sub-projectiles jointly with fragments from the first (outer) target plate and the subsequently following main penetrator must become effective against a second (interior) target plate.
The drawbacks of this state of the art kinetic-energy projectile reside in its construction, which is quite complex and costly to manufacture; the preshaped sub-projectiles negatively influence the density of the intermediate body (also referred to as the "spacing means") and, in the event spheres are used, then the interstitial spaces between the spheres remain largely unused; the explosive charge inhibits the density of the intermediate body per se and requires a primer or ignition fuse, which does not only complicate the construction but also inhibits additionally the density of the assembly; the preformed sub-projectiles lead to a poor energy balance at the target of this known kinetic energy projectile and reduce the adaptability of the projectiles towards different prevailing conditions on the target.
The invention relates to an improved inertial-kinetic-energy penetrator projectile. The projectile of the invention is of the fin-stabilized type. Spin-stabilized projectiles using similar high-density materials are, for example, disclosed in European patent applications Nos. 51 375 and 73 385 as well as U.S. Pat. No. 2,393,648 and British patent No. 579 205. These publications describe short inertial spin-stabilized penetrator projectiles, which are suitable only for penetrating aluminum armor of air planes or penetrate thin steel armor. In these known projectiles the middle portion forms the main portion of the projectile which is to be decomposed immediately after the penetration of the nose into the armor. The tail portion, which is weakened by recesses for receiving additional parts of the projectile, can no longer have a significant penetrating effect, in particular in view of the fact that when such projectile is used against armor plating it becomes inclined upon impact relative to the armor plating causing deviation of the tail portion relative to the desired direction.